Error: expected '(' to follow a function. expected a ';'

Question

I don't understand why this error continues to pop. This is the function i'm trying to build: /person is a struct. Person* is a pointer.

void(*CreateNext)(struct Person *this, int isNextNext, ...)
    {
        Person* person;
        person = (Person*)malloc(sizeof(Person));
        person = CreatePerson(person);
        this->next = person;
    }

The error is on the first line and on the '{'

//This is the struct:
struct Person {
    char* name;
    int id;
    int numOfKids;
    char** kids;
    struct Person* next;
    void (*Print)(struct Person* this);
    void (*KillNext)(struct Person* this);
    struct Person* (*SelfDestruct)(struct Person* this);
    void (*CreateNext)(struct Person* this, int isNextNext, ...);
};

This is not proper C; do you mean something like `void* CreateNext (struct Person, int, …)`? — Marcus Müller, Jan 04 '18 at 23:48
@CS student This void(*CreateNext)(struct Person *this, int isNextNext, ...) is not a function definition. It is a wrong function pointer declaration. — Vlad from Moscow, Jan 04 '18 at 23:48
It's supposed to be a pointer to a function. isn't it correct? — CS student, Jan 04 '18 at 23:54
Post definition of `Person` and `struct Person` which can be 2 different things. — chux - Reinstate Monica, Jan 04 '18 at 23:58
See this [question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1350376/function-pointer-as-a-member-of-a-c-struct) for the answer to the question you are apparently trying to ask. — Mark Benningfield, Jan 05 '18 at 01:26

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 05 '18 at 00:12

You are declaring a variable (a pointer to a function) outside the scope of a function.

You want CreateNext to be the name of a function, not the name of a variable. The declaration should be

void CreateNext(struct Person *this, int isNextNext, ...)
    {
        Person* person;
        person = (Person*)malloc(sizeof(Person));
        person = CreatePerson(person);
        this->next = person;
    }

BTW, you shouldn't cast the return of malloc(). Casts are evil.

Error: expected '(' to follow a function. expected a ';'

1 Answers1